Richard J. Durbin

Mr. President, Claims · 109 wordslast week, I joined several of my colleagues from the Senate and from the House at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye.¹ It was a historic meeting in terms of the future of NATO and the future of Ukraine and so many other issues that relate to that critical and important alliance. Last Wednesday, we had a dinner that was hosted by the U.S. Ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack.² There must have been 50 or 60 people there who all shared concerns of the summit conference. Among them were Members of Congress, Turkish leaders, and representatives of other countries around the world who had gone to that famous summit. Anecdote · 124 wordsAt the heart of that dinner was my colleague and friend Senator Lindsey Graham. When I arrived that night, it was no surprise that he had been there before me and had been working the crowd. He had been speaking to each and every person who was there--business leaders and political leaders from all parts of the world--about his concerns. Lindsey was walking them through, one at a time, his vision on how we could end the war in Ukraine and the legislation we needed to accomplish that, which was typical of Lindsey Graham. We all shared that concern, but he was buzzing around that crowd like an aspiring candidate, convincing everybody that there was a way to end this war the right way.Anecdote Claims · 17 wordsOnly a few days after that dinner, my friend Lindsey Graham passed away.³ It was a shock. Thanks · 25 wordsI would like to take a moment to recognize his lifetime of public service both in the State of South Carolina and for our Nation.Thanks Claims · 24 wordsI served with Lindsey Graham in the Senate for more than two decades, ⁴and during that time, I counted him as a trusted friend. Anecdote · 47 wordsI will tell you that my friends and supporters back in Illinois many times would just shake their heads and say: Durbin, what are you doing with Lindsey? You shouldn’t be working with him. They didn’t know how the Senate works, and they certainly didn’t know him.Anecdote Claims · 46 wordsLindsey, for many years, was the only Republican who was willing to cosponsor the DREAM Act, a bill that I introduced over 20 years ago and had reintroduced in successive Congresses, ⁵which provided protection to undocumented immigrants who had been brought to this country as children. Positioning · 33 wordsHis support took guts. At a time when issues surrounding immigration were becoming politically toxic, Lindsey stuck his neck out for me and for these young people. I will never ever forget it.Positioning Claims · 136 wordsI will also never forget a meeting that Lindsey and I had with President Trump in his first term in 2018.⁶ It was a meeting to discuss a possible comprehensive immigration reform package. It didn’t go well at all. President Trump made what I considered to be profane comments about some immigrants, ⁷but I won’t repeat them here. Lindsey, while sitting next to me in the Oval Office, passionately, vocally, and with real commitment disagreed with the President, arguing that America is not defined by race or color but by its ideals and of the many contributions that immigrants have made to our Nation. He said to the President, as I sat right next to him in the Oval Office, that he was just wrong; that these people who are immigrants make a difference in America. Anecdote · 17 wordsIt was the story of our country, and Lindsey said it was the story of his family.Anecdote Claims · 64 wordsLindsey spoke publicly about this interaction after it occurred, ⁸and despite the scorn that he earned from certain segments of the Republican base, he stuck to what he believed was right. When I happened to become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 4 years, Lindsey Graham was my ranking Republican.⁹ He sat right next to me in every session of that committee. Positioning · 51 wordsWe had our share of disagreements over issues and nominees, but I knew that his word was always good. If he told me he was going to vote for something or some person, he did--he delivered--and we had a good working relationship between us--no cheap shots, no stabs in the back.Positioning Claims · 77 wordsHe voted in favor of 75 percent of the judicial nominations that we considered while I was chair, ¹⁰and there were 235 lifetime appointments that came out of that committee.¹¹ Even though they were nominated by a President from a different political party, he announced early on that, if I expect Democrats to vote for Republican nominees, I have to support Democratic nominees to show the same spirit of cooperation. And he did. He kept his word. Positioning · 36 wordsThat was who Lindsey was. He was proud to be a fierce Republican partisan, but he never lost sight of the need to work across the aisle to make a difference in the lives of Americans.Positioning Thanks · 21 wordsLoretta and I send our condolences to Lindsey’s family and his legion of friends in South Carolina and around the world.Thanks Positioning · 14 wordsHe was an extraordinary Member of the Senate. He helped to make it work.Positioning Claims · 80 wordsThere was never any bipartisan meeting of a gang--or however you would characterize it--during which Lindsey wasn’t within its ranks. I remember when John McCain and he led the Republican side of an immigration reform effort, ¹²and I was part of that on the Democratic side. After months--literally months--of negotiating, we brought a package to the floor, which passed with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, showing that we could do things like that and that we should still be able to.¹³ Reasoning · 37 wordsFor those things to occur, it is not just a matter of having a good idea; you need good people who are willing to be respectful of one another and to work hard to find common ground. Positioning · 6 wordsLindsey was one of those people.Positioning